The Soapbox: Rants and Commentary: Cartoon Censorship's Just Looney By Jerianne Thompson. Reprinted with permission. Originally posted on the WWW site: Fear and Loathing in Northwest Tennessee Saturday mornings just aren't what they used to be. During the summer, I got in the habit of waking up at 9:30 a.m. just to watch "The Tick" on Fox. After that went off, I'd flip to ABC for "Looney Toons." Now, I've been watching "Looney Toons" since I was a kid. This doesn't necessarily make me an expert, mind you. However, I do feel somewhat familiar with the program, and I must say I'm disheartened to see what's happened to this wonderful show in the last few years. What I'm talking about here is censorship. It started slowly. The Powers That Be decided one day that certain "Looney Toon" episodes were unfit to air -- episodes that had already been seen by millions of children over the decades "Looney Toons" has been on the air. Since this fateful day, the number of episodes deemed unfit for viewing has apparently grown. It's now gotten to the point that actually only a very few episodes are being shown, and these (for the most part) are the non-violent ones. Don't believe me? Watch "Looney Toons" every week for a month or so, and you'll see. The only episodes they show are ones that suck, newer ones (which also suck) and a few others, which they repeat frequently. If you watch carefully, there's something else you might notice. Certain episodes have been edited -- well, spliced might be a more accurate word. They have scenes that were just cut, leaving the scenes that follow making little to no sense. One example of this blatant censorship is an episode with Bugs Bunny, Yosemite Sam and Granny (the old lady who's usually with Sylvester and Tweety). From what I remember of the plot, Granny has just been widowed or something, and now she's rich. Sam reads about this and decides he's gonna marry her to get rich. Bugs also gets in on the action. Basically, they go after Granny and fight each other. At one point, Bugs dresses up as Granny and really gives Sam hell. Somewhere in the midst of this, a scene is cut. I can't remember exactly how it goes (it's been over a month since I've seen it), but it's along these lines: one minute Bugs (dressed as Granny) and Sam are in a hallway, the next Sam is outside. It's just -snip-. A reference is even made to what happened in the cut scene. But you're left utterly confused, thinking, "What the... ?" Now, really. What could have been so bad in those few seconds as to make it deserve a place on the cutting room floor? To me, this is censorship in its lowest form. Sure, we need to protect the minds of innocents and all that. Hey, we can't show that episode where Wile E. Coyote dons a pair of Acme wings and tries to fly his way to dinner, only to smack into a canyon wall. Some kid might try it and get hurt. And we can't show the ones with Bugs and Yosemite fighting or Sylvester trying to eat Tweety, because they just don't promote brotherhood and friendship. Need I remind you that this is a cartoon? As in animals walking upright, talking to each other, complete with accents and speech impediments? As in kids know it isn't real? Let me ask you this: how many times have you heard of a guy on trial for committing some truly heinous act who said in his defense, "Bugs Bunny made me do it?" Or, have you heard of a child involved in a tragic accident who says, "I saw it on 'Looney Toons?'" I don't think so. Are we really going to blame crime and other problems of the world on cartoons? If we blame these on anything, it should be a lack of cartoons.Cartoons enrich children's imaginations; they help in the creative-thinking process. I don't know about you, but I feel 'toons were an important part of my childhood. I watched them nearly every Saturday morning; as a matter of fact, I still do. My point is this: cartoons aren't evil, they are a childhood necessity. So leave my damn Looney Toons alone! Back To Rants and Commentary

This document was created using FlexED